Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to commend two local families from south-west Victoria, the Barkla and McConnell families, who have set up an organisation called We've Got You. It is to help and support those who have been through child bereavement and, in particular, perinatal loss. These courageous families have suffered, but they have set about ensuring that others don't have to suffer as they did. They lost young ones and weren't provided with the necessary support, the necessary counselling and the necessary space to be able to deal with the perinatal loss that they faced. So what they've done is to set up an organisation called We've Got You to raise funds to enable others who suffer a similar loss to get the support that they need at that time. They've raised funds and set about asking the local hospital, South West Healthcare, to provide a room for those who suffer perinatal loss so that they have the space to be able to deal with the loss that they've encountered. They've also raised funds so that they can begin an information campaign for those wonderful nurses, midwives and everyone else who provides help and support in the hospital or outside the hospital so that they can provide the assistance, the services and the information to those who suffer perinatal loss.

They are remarkable families, and I've had the honour and privilege to meet with them and to be in an ongoing discussion with them as they seek to ensure that others—and, sadly, there will be others—who suffer a loss similar to theirs will have the space and the room to be able to do deal with that loss. We will also ensure that those who provide the much-needed support and counselling services know and understand the loss that will be felt and how best to support those families in their time of need. I commend them for what they have done and continue to do on behalf of the south-west community.